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I'm not sure how calling someone is guaranteeing they won't back out of the order. They need to just make an announcement about this and be done. If anyone wants to cancel their cards they can and that's a castle Mattel has to sell on Matty. I hate Mattel with a passion for multiple reasons but this is making me like them even less. They can call whomever and ask if it's a real order but they CANNOT force them to pay next December. I just don't see the point in confirming anything.

THe point:
1. To make sure someone did actually order 30 castles and not 3. We are talking Digital River here, and there is no end to the way they can fouls up even the simplest task. There have been many reported cases of orders being duplicated spontaneously. TG wouldn't say it aloud for anyone to hear, but I imagine a big reason for double checking is that Mattel doesn't trust DR to do it right any more than we do.

2. To make sure the order was actually placed by the person. ID theft and CC fraud are a rampant problem, and I know from experience this is another place where DR can foul things up endlessly.

3. To be able to tell the high muck-mucks that all the orders are indeed confirmed; this is going to be a major outlay of money, bigger than anything Mattel has sprugn for on Matty, and I imagine the big shots need to have their nerves extensively soothed with such an investment. This would be especiaaly true, methinks, if the numbers are just shy of the target, but close enough to make the project feasible with some tweaks.

I know it's frustrating, but with Mattel and DR's shared history of boundless ineptitude, I would prefer to wait to hear the final word when they have all their Wind Raiders in a row. I don't want to hear a thing until they are 100% sure this is going to happen; my little dragon heart couldn't take being told "yes" only to find out it's actually "no" a few hours later.

And yes, the grumpy old dragon is defending the actions of TG and Mattel in this case. Stranger things have happened...

"I will use this power for all the good that can be done, to work for peace, to encourage virtue, and above all, to preserve life in all its forms..." Superman

If it were up to Scott I'm sure they would have went ahead and pulled the trigger by now. He has to convince the management team he reports to that the presales are solid. It will be a lot of time and resources they will be putting into this playset and they have to have confidence in the numbers being reported.

It all seems like a game... so no matter what happens or how bad we blew this thing out of the water, they can always come back with... "no we won't be doing Snake Mountain due to how we BARELY got Castle Grayskull made with minimum orders."

If anything this waiting proves to me that MOTUC truly is the red-headed step-child on Mattel's priority list, as obviously Scott and crew have other activities as part of their day job taking them away from this all-important tallying activity. Were it more important it would take priority. As is it's taking literally all business day to figure out if their 'bulk orders' are legit. Which baffles me since a simple phone call affirming the cc order placed is no more a guarantee of intent to pay when the item eventually ships in 2013 than a handshake deal. Why not simply take ALL of the cc orders as the promise they technically should be, count those orders towards the overall total, and call it a day?

More than a few so-called fans over the years have put in orders (for the sub, for Grayskull) only to later change their cc numbers or otherwise cancel those orders down the road. Not arguing the viability or rightness of that activity, merely stating that it happens and may even happen with the Grayskull orders, Matty. Chances are though someone who puts in a cc order for 17 Grayskulls intends to pay. Otherwise why run the risk that your account may be hit with that charge simply to help get the pre-order over the hump. I'm sure it might happen in some cases, but en masse, doubtful.